The Wenatchee Daily World was founded in 1905 by C.A. Briggs and Nat Ament, as a Republican paper. The paper was the town’s first daily newspaper and initially consisted of four pages.

In 1907, Briggs and Ament sold the ailing paper after threats were made on their lives over their anti-saloon stances. Rufus Woods, who had previously published the Wenatchee Advance [LCCN: sn87093051] and written for the Republic [LCCN: sn87093278], purchased the paper with his twin brother Ralph as a silent partner. Woods struggled in the early years because he decided to support the Progressive or “Bull Moose” branch of the Republican Party and many of his advertisers deserted the paper. Woods relied on creativity and publicity stunts to boost business and canvassed around the state for subscriptions. By 1910, circulation reached 2,700, a 600% increase over March 1907.

The Wenatchee Daily World’s main competitor in its early days was the Republic, especially after the latter became a daily in 1912. On April 30, 1913, the Republic ran an article titled “The Sordid Motives of Our Strumpet Contemporary” in which Woods was described as a “crook, briber, cunning knave, brazen blackmailer, shrewd scoundrel, grinning clown” and hinted at unsavory rumors about Woods’ financial dealings. The Republic eventually folded in 1914, and Woods and the Daily World recovered. Woods used the paper as a platform to advocate for development promoting and supporting better roads, mining development, conservation, hydro-electric power, reclamation, local manufacturing, and better government for central Washington. The Wenatchee Daily World is best known for Rufus Woods’ July 18, 1918 editorial arguing that diverting the Columbia River would allow for the irrigation of arid Central Washington farmlands, introducing the public to the Grand Coulee dam proposal. Woods and the Wenatchee Daily World were central figures in the 23-year fight to complete the project. Woods remained publisher of the paper until his death in 1950, when his son, Wilfred Woods, took over the reins. Wilfred Woods served as publisher until his retirement in 1997, and the paper was inherited by his son, Rufus G. Woods. In 1971 the title changed to the Wenatchee World [LCCN: sn86072042] and is still published today.